Miniature railway and method of assembling the same



July 21, 1-942. E. A; GARDNER EI'AL 2,290,584 AME MINIATURE 'RAILWAYS AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLING THE 5 Filed; Feb. 16, 1940 INVENTORS. dner Patented July 21, 1942 f MINIATURE RAILWAY AND METHOD 0F ASSEMBLING THE SAME Earle A. Gardner and rum s. Graves, Rochester, N. Y.

Application February 16, 1940, Serial No. 319,310

2 Claims.

Our present invention relates to toys and more particularly to miniature railways and it has for its general object to provide a rail and cross tie connection for the road bed-s thereof that will be simple, accurate in its function, and which may be produced, largely through simplifying the method of assembly thereof, at a very low cost. The improvements are directed in part toward reducing the number of pieces required in the construction of the railway, toward arranging for the forming of loops and curves without the provision of specially constructed sections, toward producing-an equipment which is, in fact, a miniature of a full size railway line in appearance as distinguished from the usual toy of this nature that has the appearance of being just that, and toward simplifying the insulation of the third or power rail where electric railways are involved.

To these and other ends, the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plane view of a length of miniature railway tracks constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of our invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse section 13 thereof taken longitudinally through one of the ties on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a further enlarged cross section of one of the rails;

Figure 4 is a further enlarged longitudinal section of a cross tie without the rail to show the conformation of the socket therein;

Figure 5 is an assembled view on the scale of Figures 3 and 4, and

Figure 6 is a still further enlarged fragmentary perspective view of one of the ties.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

Referring more particularly to the drawing and to the reference numerals marked thereon, we have chosen to show an electrified line because this employs all that is required for a steam or otherwise motored rail line with the third rail added. The main track rails in the present instance are indicated at l and 2 and the power rail at 3. The latter is shown to be an intermediate or center rail, but with a further understanding of the invention it will be seen that this may as well be placed at the side as is conven- ,tlonal in some electric lines, the change involving in the present case only the use of a somewhat longer tie.

The rails are preferably made in continuous lengths of sheet metal which, because of the self-bracing formation thereof, may be of very light stock. Each includes a flat tread 4 at the top, tie engaging flanges 5 at the bottom, and an intermediate connecting web 6, just as a full size railway rail is f-abric'ated and having an exterior conformation identical or substantially identical therewith. The rail is generally tubular, being drawn from a strip of metal and, when formed up, one side is the complement of the other to constitute the three elements aforesaid.

The tread portion as thus built results in one tube at l and another tube at 8 because the material of the flanges 5 diverge outwardly and are then brought inwardly together to form a sub-- 'stantially continuous bottom on the rail.

The free edges of the stock strip, however, are continued downwardly from tread, web and flange and thence divergently as indicated at 9 size and shape of cross ties on a full size railway.

At suitable intervals they are cut to form sockets or transverse grooves H for the anchoring of the several rails l, 2, and 3. These sockets or grooves are in the nature of transverse dovetail mortises as shown more particularly in Figures 4 and 6. In other words, they have downwardly and divergently extending walls which may be formed in manufacture by sawing such lateral walls with relatively inclined saws the intersecting planes of which are roughly and fragmentarily shown with dotted lines at l2 in Figure 4. The cut is preferably so made as to leave chamfers l3 at the upper margins to better seat the rails in the manner of attachment now to be described.

In the assembly, the portions 6, 5, and 9 of the outwardly sprung sheet metal rails are pressed together and the cross ties I0 are thereupon threaded successively, longitudinally thereon to make the connection shown complete in Figure 5. In other words, the rails are first compressed and then threaded endwise through the sockets or grooves ll, transversely of the ties ID or the ties are pushed sidewise on to the flared anchoring extensions 9 which amounts to the,

same thing. The result is that the web portions 6 are brought into abutment with each other at the two sides and the flange portions 5 rest directly upon the ties as in the case of a full size rail, while the anchoring edges 9 hug the side Walls of the grooves or sockets H with an expanding pressure that holds the rails tightly thereto as in Figures 2 and 5.

Of course, in actual manufacture, with the sawing method suggested, the bottomsof the sockets or grooves ll may not turn out to be as geometrically flat as they appear in the drawing because the wood fiber will not be completely routed. This, however, is immaterial or of no definite benefit as long as the anchoring extensions 9 follow and hug closely the outer walls of the kerfs cut by the sawing operation. The ohamfers l3, before described, eliminate sharp corners at the mouth of the socket so that the full expanding force of said portions 9 may be exerted against the lateral walls. It has been heretofore pointed out that the rails I, 2, and 3 are of an external conformation practically identical with those of a full size railway and the same in appearance, particularly if they are given a blued finish.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that soft sheet metal stock is preferably used for the rails and after the assembly is made as a straight-away track with the ties equally spaced thereon the whole line may, with gentle pressure with the hands, be bent to suit a variety of purposes and incidents of miniature railway construction as indicated in a general way in Figure 1. Curves, sidings, switch connections and all such things may be provided in this simple manner, while heretofore, to our knowledge, it has been the practice to provide specially formed rigid sections for these purposes. Such has been the case with loops and turns, Whereas with our invention a complete reverse turn can be made on a miniature track of approximately 1%" gage on a 15" radius. Thus, in a simple layout, with a parallel return and two end loops the whole thing can be contrived if desired by bending a single length of track. At the meeting ends of a number of sections coupled together suitable projecting pins or mortises [4 may be bound in the tubular portions 1 or 8 or both to project and interlock with such tubes of an adjacent section. In'practice of metal.

these joints are not brought too tightly together with respect to the otherwise abutting ends of the sections to give the familiar click as the metal train wheels pass over them simulating the click at the joints of a full size actual railway.

Another advantage of our invention has to do with the matter of insulation of the third rail 3 in electrified miniature railways. To our knowledge, it has heretofore been necessary to provide separate insulating rests for this rail on each cross tie, the latter being commonly made With our wooden ties or ties of synthetic material having inherent insulating qualities no such provision is required. This is, of course, true whether the three rail system illustrated or a two rail circuit system is employed.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a rail and cross tie connection for miniature railroads, the combination with a cross tie having a transversely cut socket therein larger at the bottom than at the top, of a rail embodying in a folded sheet metal construction a tread portion, doubled flange portions proceeding from the latter having laterally shouldered doubled portions engaging the top faces of the tie and divergent anchoring portions proceeding from such tie engaging portions, the latter anchoring portions being adapted to occupy and expand within the larger divergent portion of the tie socket.

2. In a rail and cross tie connection for miniature railroads, the combination with a cross tie having a transversely cut socket therein larger at the bottom than at the top, of a rail embodying in a folded sheet metal construction a tread portion, doubled flange portions proceeding from the latter having laterally shouldered doubled portions engaging the top faces of the tie and divergent anchoring portions proceeding from such tie engaging portions, the latter anchoring portions being adapted to occupy and expand within the larger divergent portion of the tie socket, the rail being of soft sheet metal stock and bendable and its connection with the tie being such that one slides upon the other and curves in the rail may be made by simply bending the rail after the tie connection has been made.

EARLE A. GARDNER. ELDYN S. GRAVES. 

